Budget 2019: This budget is for new India, says PM Modi

The unorganized labour force, about 40 crore people, haven’t ever received any help from previous governments. The beneficiaries will get assured monthly pension after reaching the age of 60 years now.

12 crore farmers, 3 crore taxpayers, 30 crore labourers will benefit from the Budget. Many governments announced schemes for farmers but only those owning large pieces of land would benefit. Our scheme will reach out to the small farmer who has always been left out

FM Goyal said he has not made any big changes in tax proposals as it will be decided in the main budget. "In July 2019 when the second term budget comes then the main tax proposals will be presented before you," Goyal said.

Piyush Goyal says that the PM Kisan Scheme is the biggest one ever for farmers. "Those sitting in AC rooms cannot understand the plight of the small farmers. Keeping this in mind, we have introduced Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. This is a historic decision," he said at a post-budget press conference.

BJP chief Amit Shah said the budget has met the expectations of farmers, labourers and middle class. "By bearing a cost of ₹75,000 crore,the govt will implement Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. This scheme will also benefit those farmers who do not take loans," he said.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said the whole exercise has turned out to be a damp squib. "We've seen one good thing that is tax exemption for the middle class. ₹6000 in income support for farmers boils down to ₹500 per month. Is that supposed to enable them to live with the honour & dignity?," Tharoor tweeted.

Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh said, "We have also issued guidelines for Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. In 2018-19 financial year, for months before March, ₹2000 will be transferred to farmers' accounts, and in the financial year 2019-20 farmers will get ₹6000."

Former finance minister P Chidambaram Friday termed the union budget as an "account for votes" and not a "vote on account".

"It was not a Vote on Account. It was an Account for Votes," Chidambaram tweeted soon after the presentation of the Union Budget.

He also thanked Finance Minister Piyush Goyal for "copying" the Congress declaration that the poor will have the first right to resources of the country.

The senior Congress leader claimed that the government had missed the fiscal deficit target, as warned by him earlier.

"Thank you Interim FM for copying the Congress' declaration that the poor have the first right to the resources of the country.

"As I had warned, Government misses Fiscal Deficit target for 2018-19. Another red flag rises: CAD is 2.5 percent," Chidambaram said in a series of tweets while reacting to the Budget.

Arun Jaitley said the budget is unquestionably pro-growth, fiscally prudent, pro-farmer, pro-poor and strengthens the purchasing power of the middle class. He said the budget expands spending while pragmatically sticking to fiscal prudence.

"The tax breaks for the salaried, middle class, pensioners is being welcomed and is far more than expectations. This is definitely a budget for the middle class. With the additional tax rebate, an individual with total income up to Rs. 5 lakhs will have no tax to be paid. This results in an assured tax benefit including up to ₹13,000 at this level. Increase in standard deduction by ₹10,000 for salaried taxpayers would ensure additional tax saving of ₹2,080 to 3,120 for tax payers not paying surcharge," Tapati Ghose, Partner, Deloitte India, said.

The markets gained over 1% as interim finance minister Piyush Goyal made taxation proposal in the interim budget on Friday. At 12:55 pm, the Sensex was at 36,657.26, up 400.57 points or 1.10% while the Nifty was at 10,943.55, up 112.60 points or 1.04%.

BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices are also up nearly 1%. In the one yera period, from last Budget till now, the Sensex rose 1.5%, Nifty fell 1.2%, BSE MidCap fell 15.2% while BSE SmallCap declined 25.2%. 

Garima Kapoor, economist and vice president, Elara Capital, Mumbai:

"The budget is clearly farm-focused, with elections on the mind. Farmers, age-old, unorganised sector, MSME and middle class - they're all finding favour, with the agricultural sector getting the biggest support."

Rupa Rege Nitsure, group chief economist, L&T Finance Holdings, Mumbai:

"It's more of performance reporting and aspirations than any big-ticket changes. This was expected as it is an interim Budget valid for a few months. It needs to be stated in unambiguous fashion that the credit for inflation control and AQR primarily goes to the RBI."

Abheek Barua, chief economist, HDFC Bank:

"This is on expected lines. There is a slight slip in fiscal deficit. The new income support scheme is tepid, in terms of the actual numbers. It should not lead to a blowout in the fiscal deficit if it indeed is part of the budget when it is finally announced in full form."

Poorva Prakash, Senior Director, Deloitte India, said that individuals having income of ₹6.5 lakh will not be required to pay any tax if they take full deduction of 80C on savings instruments like PPF etc. He said standard deduction raised from Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 50,000 benefiting the salaries class.

Hitesh Sawhney of PwC India said the government has expectedly sought to cater to the demands of the salaried and middle class taxpayer, reducing the tax outflow and extending benefits on residential house rental income and sale.

Capital gains tax exemption under Section 54 raised to ₹2 crore

Tax on notional rent on unsold inventory to not be paid for 2 years 

No TDS on post office savings up to ₹40,000

No TDS on rental income up to ₹2,40,000 per year 

Standard deduction to be raised from Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 50,000

No tax if you own second house 

Salary earners of up to ₹6,50,000 income to not pay tax if they make tax related investments

Salary earners up to ₹5,00,000 annual income to get full tax rebate.

Total expenditure rose by 13%

FY20 total expenditure seen at Rs. 27.84 trillion

FY20 capital expenditure seen at Rs. 3,36,292 crore 

"We maintained the path to establish 3% fiscal deficit by 2020," Piyush Goyal said.

Fiscal deficit pegged at 3.4% of GDP for FY20